The Thai Student Association’s annual Thai Night was a festival of sight, sound and taste for nearly 300 people Sunday.

The Great Hall of the Memorial Union was split in two, with tables and chairs arranged to face the stage and, behind the curtains, multiple Thai dishes to be served later. Black banners with gold-painted designs hung from the walls, and a running slideshow displayed pictures of sights in Thailand – waterfalls, temples, markets and artisans at work.

Toward the rear of the room were displays with information about Thailand and Thai culture. One table featured angelfish made of ribbon, with seemingly simple instructions to make your own. Another table displayed intricately carved fruits and vegetables, including a bouquet of flowers, with onlookers touching it to convince themselves the tulips were carved radishes and the marigolds were carrot and pumpkin.

At 6 p.m., the curtains opened to allow access to the food, and a spicy aroma filled the Great Hall. However, MU Catering had recently changed its policies, so all the dishes were prepared by the MU Catering staff, from recipes provided by the TSA.

“The most difficult thing is, we have to pick dishes that were easy for the MU guys to cook,” said Warisara Lertpaitoonpan, president of the TSA and graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering. The recipes included a sour soup with chicken, mushrooms and a coconut base, basil chicken with bamboo shoots, tofu curry, a northeastern Thai pork dish and a tapioca and cantaloupe concoction for dessert.

Most people seemed to appreciate the efforts, saying at least it wasn’t the Chinese or Vietnamese food often offered as Thai. Some, however, disagreed.

“Everyone else thinks it’s good, and it’s just me,” said Des Moines resident May Lee, who had come to show support for some of her friends.

She said she’d give the food “three out of five stars,” but said they got the dessert “right.”

While the patrons ate, the TSA put on a show, a series of dances and videos segued by a skit about a tourist in Thailand. Four dancers performed the “Blessings Dance,” wearing long skirts of red, yellow, pink or blue fabric with gold patterning. The tops were long sections of matching fabric, wrapped around the torso and then across the chest, hanging over each dancer’s shoulder almost to her ankles.

Then came a video about Thailand’s king, who has reigned for 60 years and won many awards, including the United Nations’ Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award, for his work against poverty and on improving agriculture in his country.

After a demonstration of Thai boxing, Muay Thai, with names and examples of different moves, there was a choreographed dance, which fighter Tuang Cheevatadavirut, graduate student in logistics, operational and management information systems, said was practiced for nearly a month in advance.

He did, however, accidentally kick his opponent at one point.

“But he’s OK,” said Cheevatadavirut, laughing a little.

Lastly, a swords dance was performed by Lertpaitoonpan. It came to a finish with her balancing eight swords at once.

“It reminded me kind of the Chinese mid-autumn festival,” said Dominic Kramer, graduate student in mathematics, who came with his girlfriend. He said he liked the skit put on between the dances, videos and demonstrations.

The entire show was planned in a matter of weeks, because the TSA members weren’t sure there would be enough people to organize it.

“Everyone did it together,” said Nattakorn Sujipittham, graduate student in animal science, who helped plan the event. “I feel good, you know, everything’s done.”